Digital marketing is essential in the modern world for almost any kind of business to survive and thrive. Unlike traditional marketing, you can be more definite about the magnitude of the audience on whom you have left an impression, thanks to algorithms. However, when it comes to understanding the reasons behind engagement, it can be tougher. Low engagement can be a mystery as there are several aspects involved in digital marketing. You have to consider a variety of things to determine the reasons behind dipping engagement. While doing so, content writing is one aspect that brands are seen to pay less attention to sometimes. But the chances are that content writing might be the prime reason affecting your engagement levels. This is because writing is the foundation for pretty much any content you put out in the digital world. When marketing online, you communicate majorly through text, and even when you are communicating through other mediums like audio or video, it is being created through content writing. Content writing, therefore, both directly and indirectly impacts your overall digital marketing strategy. So if you see your engagement decreasing, you need to take a look at content writing mistakes that may be causing this. Here are some content writing mistakes that you’re probably making:
1. Using Clickbait Titles
Using clickbait titles has become a popular technique on the internet to capture the attention of the audience. However, it has been used for a while now, and therefore, the audience has become familiar with it. Not only do most of the audience recognize and avoid it, but they also form a perception of the brand. People are seen to form a negative perception of brands that use clickbait titles to promote their content. When a user clicks on a title and doesn’t find content that was promised, they feel cheated. They not only see the content negatively but the whole brand and its product/services in a negative light. Rather than using this technique, focus on providing customers with value through genuine content, as they will only trust your brand when they find the content the title promised.
2. Writing Subpar Content
Another popular strategy is to produce content just for the sake of putting out content. A lot of businesses focus on quantity and try to produce a high amount of content, hoping to gain more engagement. But such a focus on quantity forces you to compromise on the quality of content. This strategy never works as even if you are able to reach a wide audience, they might not receive the content well due to the quality. It ultimately makes your brand look unprofessional. So make sure that you give the highest importance to the quality of the content. Ensure that every piece you put out is well-written, accurate, relevant, meaningful, and creative.
3. Not Targeting Specifically
As they say, when you don’t focus on one thing, your efforts get diffused. Many a time, businesses feel that targeting a specific audience will make them miss out on others, and therefore, they strategize to target everyone through their content. But this strategy lets you win over no one. The first thing to understand is that everyone cannot be a target; in most cases, there exists a specific audience for your product or service. Before you write your content, you need to have a clear idea of your target audience and their needs. The way to do this is through extensive research. Understanding the target audience’s needs and interests is the key tool for good content writing.
4. Overdoing with the Keywords
Every content writer understands the importance of using keywords right. But the most commonly seen mistake is the over usage of keywords. Most content writers still have the idea that using keywords more and more will make the search engine recognize their content as relevant. Although keywords are important, their usage can be questioned in recent times as search engines have evolved past their usage to determine the relevance of the content. Instead of relying on keywords solely, try to make your content actually relevant by addressing questions and providing proper context.
5. Too Many Call to Action Buttons
Overselling is a put-off for most readers. When someone lands on a page to read the informational content you are offering, it is annoying to see the call to action buttons after every few lines. Call to action buttons are there for two reasons- to influence the reader to take action and for convenience. If a customer is actually interested in your product or service, they will ultimately place the order, even if there is one click-through button. Providing too many of these serves no functionality and will only make it look like you are overselling.
6. Poor Proofreading
Many a time, content writers give minimal time to proofreading or skip the process altogether. Every person, no matter how experienced with writing, is bound to make “silly mistakes” like punctuation, grammar, and spellings. This might look like an insignificant aspect, but putting out content with such errors will leave a bad impression on the reader. Reading erratic content makes the customer question the professionalism of your brand, and they often build the perception that your brand is careless with the work. They might apply this judgment to your product or service as well.
Content writing is often undervalued by online businesses, which costs them a lot. A lot of the answers to your digital marketing problems lie in your content writing strategies. These are some content writing mistakes that everyone should check for if they are experiencing any kind of engagement or response issues.
About the Author:
The author is a marketing professional who works with Global Assignment Help, providing marketing students with assignment help Malaysia services. She is an avid reader and traveler. She likes to write blogs in her free time on diverse topics relating to the online business space.
